"Figment would be better if you could shoot" a single Dad's August 2019 adventure

amg13

Earning My Ears
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
I’ve been reading trip reports for quite awhile and decided to take a shot at one myself, now that we finally got our first trip in. I’m Aaron, I’m 44 an accountant 🤓 and most of all a single dad. I love Disney, other theme parks, and movies.

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Joining me on the trip is of course is my who world, my son Iaan who is 4 years old. He loves Disney and Marvel movies (and some others), playing, singing, dancing, and having fun. Oh and as you will see, chicken nuggets. He is a great kid and I’m happy to get to take him for his first trip. It is also my first time to get to go in years.

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I booked the trip when free dining was offered. I wasn’t sure if we would go or cancel due to things going on and not sure if he was ready. But started making plans and some ADRs, and as we got to about 80 days out I decided it was a go and booked the flights and then the fastpasses soon after.

We would be staying at All Star Music, August 17-24. I’m not crazy about going in summer, but it seemed like good timing with free dining and I wanted to go before Galaxy’s Edge opened in case crowds got crazy although it looks like that was not a problem. Plus we live in San Antonio, so we’re used to the heat.

Travel day:

We were flying out of Austin, as it is usually much cheaper than San Antonio. We had an early morning flight so I decided to drive up the afternoon before and stay the night there.


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We spent the night at the Crowne Plaza Austin

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For some fun people watching there even happened to be an anime convention going on.

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We saw a nice sunset from our room, and went to sleep early for the big day.

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We were off to the airport and arrived by 5 AM. Got Through security quickly and Iaan was excited to be there.

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We soon boarded the plane.

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Hmm we pulled away from the gate but sitting on the tarmac for a long time. Finally they announce something is wrong with the plane and they are looking at it. Eventually they say back to the gate and off the plane. First a long delay to fix it, then they say the plane will not be fixed and they delay for a new plane. Then after a long delay they say nope other plane is not coming flight cancelled. I’m stuff happens I get it but really they could have just cancelled when the plane was not fixed. Anyway some quick phone work and we are booked on Spirit leaving at 12:33 PM CDT and arriving at 4:20 EDT. I’m not a fan of Spirit, the tiny seats don’t work so well for me being 6’3, but who cares they are getting us there.

We pick up our checked bag, and recheck and check in with Spirit. I’m calculating in my head lunch and resort pool time for today are out, we’ll miss our first fastpass, but we should be good on the other two and dinner. We have a quick brunch at the airport.


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The time comes to board and it is a nice uneventful flight while Iaan gets his nap in finally after playing during the long wait at the airport.

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By 5:00 we are boarding the Magical Express.

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In the next part: Arrival as ASMu, Magic Kingdom, and more
 
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On the magical express I cancelled the Fastpass for meeting Mickey since I knew we wouldn’t make it, that way someone else could use it. It is really a trip report without this photo?

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Soon we were being dropped off at All Star Movies. Our room was in the rock section 🎸. I picked up the stroller I had reserved from Kingdom Strollers from bell services. He doesn’t use a stroller at home but I knew it would be too much walking and I would be too tired to let him ride on my shoulders when he gets tired like I generally do at home. So we explored a bit and walked back to the room to drop off our carryon and the stroller since it would be a short park run for this evening.

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Then it was back on a bus to the Magic Kingdom. By 6:30 we were here.

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Iaan had been excited to meet Mickey, and meeting the boss first thing seems like the right thing to do. So even though we missed our FP, we went right to Town Square to meet Mickey. Wait was 30 minutes so not too bad.

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He was happy to meet them but seemed a little overwhelmed, but he would quickly adjust to meeting characters – well the furs anyway, he was in general not a fan of meeting face characters. Next, after our first view of the castle we headed over to Tomorrowland to use a FP at what I knew would be one of Iaan’s favorites- Buzz. Our scores were awful – it always takes me awhile to figure out what red dot is mine, although we would ride many times on the trip and get much better. Iaan loved it and it was in his top 3 favorite rides.

Oops not ready for the ride pic.

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We had a chance to slow down and walk around a bit, enjoy the sights and get a good look at the castle.

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Next it was time for the last FP for the evening. I had got one for Peter Pan, I knew this line gets ridiculous and thought it would be a good chance to get it in on the first night with FP. Our transportation to Neverland:

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Iaan ended up loving the ride. I wasn’t sure since he is only a little familiar with the movie, but he loved flying over the city and especially seeing Hook and the crocodile. Next we would head to Poly for dinner, but first a Photopass shot with the castle.

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I love his smile there. That photo alone was enough for the whole trip to be worth it. So we took the monorail to the TTC and walked over to Poly. We had time to kill so took our time looking around the resort even though it was dark. I was starting to not feel well, had a cough before we left but just figured it was fatigue.

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We finally were seated at Ohana. They brought Iaan chicken nuggets and he loved them, even got seconds. I’ve heard mixed reviews of the food, but I loved it. There was way more than I could have ate even if feeling 100%. But I loved the steak – it was a perfect medium and loved the seasoning. Also loved the potstickers, bread, noodles, and wings. Not sure if we will make it back here with other places to try next trip but definitely want to come back at some point.

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Finally at the end of a LONG day we didn’t want to deal with anything complicated to get home so game the Minnie Van a shot. It was a nice trip, great cast member and fun to ride in it. Obviously not really worth the price but was nice to do once.

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Then it was off to sleep to get ready for the next day.

Next part: EMH at HS
 
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What a great trip report! I'm so sorry you two had to deal with all that chaos at the airport though!
 
What a great trip report! I'm so sorry you two had to deal with all that chaos at the airport though!

Thank you and thanks for reading! Yeah it was crazy, I was just glad we got there eventually. We actually had another 3 hours in flight delays on the return flight as well, but that was not such a big deal. No rush to get home anyway. lol
 


Thank you and thanks for reading! Yeah it was crazy, I was just glad we got there eventually. We actually had another 3 hours in flight delays on the return flight as well, but that was not such a big deal. No rush to get home anyway. lol
Ugh! Still, hanging out at the airport is no fun.. well except maybe the shops. I'm following this thread for updates as it looks like you guys had a great time and I totes agree with the title. XD
 
Ugh! Still, hanging out at the airport is no fun.. well except maybe the shops. I'm following this thread for updates as it looks like you guys had a great time and I totes agree with the title. XD

Lol you and my son would definitely get along then. Thanks! Will probably get another update done on Monday and yes we had an awesome time.
 
We fell asleep quickly in the room, I wake up around 2 AM to crying. Iaan has rolled out of the bed and hit his nose. Lots of nose bleeding everywhere. I get him settled down and all the bleeding stopped, plus some Tylenol in case he is in pain. He settles back down. Wow there are some bloody sheets, glad I didn’t decline Mousekeeping. Ahh but now that I have him ok and can breath I’m wide awake at 2 AM. And really cold, weird I didn’t turn the AC that low. Ugh I realize I have a fever. Well let me get some of that Tylenol. I spend the next few hours playing around on my phone, no going back to sleep at this point.

Finally it is close enough to time to get Iaan up and dressed. It is EMH at HS so at least I was up in plenty of time for that. Lol The resort is actually quite pretty before sunrise.

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We head out and get some snacks at the food court. Banana bread for me, Cheez-its for Iaan, the breakfast of champions. Lol

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We bus over to the park. We see the Skyliner testing. Iaan is begging to ride it, nope will have to wait for next time for it to be open kiddo.



You would think as early as I was up I would have got us to the front of the rope drop crowd, but no we took our time with snacks and stuff. Oh well we are here a bit before open. I don’t really like to go right to what everyone is going to at rope drop anyway. IF we were in front we could have started with Slinky, but we had a FP for it another day. We will just start with Toy Story Mania today which I think Iaan will like better anyway.

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The rope drop is ridiculous with lots of people running through the sidewalks where cast members tell them not to go. But oh well no rush for us.

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Slinky line is already back to close to where Buzz meets, that is a pass, we head to TSMM with a 10 min posted wait.

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And Iaan loved the ride, it would be the one he would ask for most. He loves shooting games and his favorite ride at our local Six Flags is a shooter ride that was originally themed to Scooby Doo and then changed to Pirates. This was quite a step up for him though. Lol

Lines are high already around Toy Story Land, as everyone is back there. I ask if he wants to meet Woody and Bo, but he says no. We have a FP for AS2 later in the day and Slinky another day so we decide to leave the crowds behind. We head over to Star Tours. Iaan is not really into the movies but he is excited about the AT-AT out front. He ended up loving the ride and it was one that would also be repeated several times during the trip.

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Next up was the Disney Jr. dance party, Iaan was a bit shy at first, but later got into it.

Iaan dancing at DJDP

After that we went to the Mike and Sully meet. This line felt like the longest we were in the whole trip, it would stop and not move for so long at times. At least it was in the A/C – I had no more fever after the medicine but my body temperature being all wonky mixed with the heat made for a sweaty day.

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Next up was lunch at Hollywood & Vine. This one gets bad reviews at times, but we thought it was fine. Nothing special but everything I tried was pretty good, and Iaan had his nuggets lol. One of the cheesecake desserts was really good. Of course the characters were the main reason to be there.

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Next up: a detour to Epcot and some more time at HS
 
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Following along! So sorry you had to deal with all that at the airport, but looks like you were quick thinking and everything worked out ok! Iaan is adorable!!
 
Your title caught my eye....I am a huge Figment fan, lol.

Even thought your trip got off to a rocky start, it looks like things got back on track fairly quickly.

Can't wait to read more.

Lynn
 
Following along! So sorry you had to deal with all that at the airport, but looks like you were quick thinking and everything worked out ok! Iaan is adorable!!

Thanks for the follow! Yes I'm glad everything worked out and we were able to get there without too much disruption. Thank you, he is amazing and I'm so glad he was so happy on this trip.
 
Your title caught my eye....I am a huge Figment fan, lol.

Even thought your trip got off to a rocky start, it looks like things got back on track fairly quickly.

Can't wait to read more.

Lynn

Thanks for the follow! I like Figment too, but I wish I had rode the original with Dreamfinder, I only got to see the 2nd and current versions.
 
After lunch we were going to park hop to Epcot. We needed to meet Mulan. Obviously that is a good reason to park hop when we still have FP and plan to do Fantasmic right? Well the reason for it is that we have a cast member friend who among other characters is an Epcot Mulan. Didn’t know her schedule at Fastpass time of course so just had to improvise to make sure we caught her. She was a former performer at our local Six Flags park – Fiesta Texas. While this park has some of the typical Six Flags cheesiness, it was originally a show based park before Six Flags bought it and still has outstanding shows. When Iaan was two he was his first favorite performer, he would always run to hug her after every show.

So we started the trip, I really wanted to walk, but that sun was hurting at this point and I still wasn’t feeling my best so we took the boat. It was actually a pretty enjoyable restful rider, Iaan loved it and it seemed like part of the entertainment to him so that was a nice bonus. We also saw a girl crash a rental boat into the side and look very embarrassed that a whole boatload of people saw her. Lol

We made it to the International Gateway and did the long walk around the world to China. Iaan was ready for a nap but I was keeping him awake for a few more minutes. I knew that would make him grumpy though. We got our pics and got to talk to her for a few minutes as she went on break. We would see her again out of character later in the trip.

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He got back in his stroller and was almost immediately knocked out. Oh well might as well get back on the boat and rest while he does. He slept well on the ride. I decided to get off at Boardwalk just to look around for a bit and fill up our drink cups.

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After we got back on the boat there was a quick thundershower but it passed by the time we got to HS. We used our fastpass for Alien Swirling Saucers. It was find nothing special but we both liked it ok. Iaan was begging for Toy Story Mania again, wait time was only around 30 minutes so we went for it and had a great time again.

I was really exhausted at this point after two nights in a row of bad sleep. I was thinking we weren’t going to make it to Fantasmic, but pushed on. We went to Muppet 3D next for time to sit and get some AC. I think Iaan enjoyed it but I was too tired to get into it this time. We then had a dinner reservation at Sci-Fi. We enjoyed it, Iaan thought the cars were cool. The movie didn’t really grab his attention he just liked looking at the cars. I got the BBQ platter. It was ok, a bit overcooked. I should have played it safe and went with the steak or a burger. No food pics as it was too dark.

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I knew I was done at this point, Iaan fought me because he is a hardcore open to closer. lol I usually am too, but needed rest so I would feel better tomorrow. We headed back to the resort, I stopped at the store and paid too much for some night time cold medicine. I let him watch tv for a bit and have a snack but he was ready to sleep also soon.

Next update: Feeling better and adventures at AK
 
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Following along! Flight delays are awful but I'm glad it worked out. The smile on his face at the castle and meeting characters is too precious!
 
Following along! Flight delays are awful but I'm glad it worked out. The smile on his face at the castle and meeting characters is too precious!

Yes that smile makes it all. I made him a Shutterfly book and it is so cool to see how excited he gets showing it to people also. I can't wait for a next trip.
 
Had a great night of sleep and up early ready for AK EMH. Still had a cough, but oh well I’m awake and feeling good. I love Animal Kingdom and was excited to go back, Iaan loves animals so I knew this would be an easy hit with him. He is not tall enough for FoP or EE and have already said no to Navi so this would be a chill relaxed day with lots of animals. We had our snack breakfast and bussed over to the park.

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After we got through the tapstyles I knew most everybody would be going to Pandora so no need to rush to the Africa entrance we took our time seeing animals and exploring Discovery Island.

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We went to the Africa entrance a few minutes before they should be dropping the rope and yep only about 20 people waiting here.

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Then we walked back to the safaris for our zero wait first ride. We had a great first safari, the ostriches were hilarious running around, they were also getting close enough to the cheetah area that the cheetahs could see them and were all standing up watching wanting to get through. Iaan absolutely loved it and was pointing and asking about all the animals.

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Then we walked over to Asia and after we watched the monkeys for a bit, the Maharaja Jungle Trek was opening.

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We walked back up the pathway towards Africa, taking our time and stopping for random stuff as we headed back towards Festival of the Lion King.

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So we made it to the show and got pretty good seats in the giraffe section. This is my favorite show here and Iaan loved it too . He was singing the whole rest of the trip.

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Now we had time to kill before lunch. I stopped at Tamu Tamu and got a Simba Sunset. It was good, but mostly just tasted like Dole Whip as the pineapple overpowered everything else, just an occasional watermelon taste from the syrup. But I’m not complaining about being “just” a Dole Whip.

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We walked down and ended up in Dinoland. I was going to give Iaan some time in the Boneyard. He liked it but just ok. He did the slide once and then just liked exploring around the bones, but he was ready to go in 10 minutes or so. I thought it might be difficult to get him off the playground.

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Then we crossed the park again, back to Africa, still a little time so we walked the Gorilla Falls trail, and then on to Tusker House for lunch.



Next update: Lunch and more Animal Kingdom
 
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We went to our lunch reservation at Tusker House. The food was good although Iaan was upset about no chicken nuggets but I got him to pig out on naan and he loved the chocolate chip cookies. The characters interaction was very good.

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We had time to take the train over to Rafiki’s. Didn’t really want to take the time for animation so Iaan just petted a few goats and it was back on the train lol. He did like the one kid’s activity where you look for the backyard animals. Plus with the MK train down it was his chance to ride a train

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Iaan took a nap in his stroller, I walked around a bit and then rested in shady spot near Dinosaur while he napped. When he woke up we walked over and met Pluto. It was nice and Iaan had been asking why Pluto wasn’t at any of the character meals so far.

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We headed over for the Nemo show. I had been excited for A/C but it seemed really hot in the theater. I was starting to wonder if I was getting a fever again but noticed everyone else fanning themselves as well. Sure enough right at the time the show should be started they announced it was cancelled. They didn’t give a reason but it obviously wouldn’t have been safe for the performers with it being so hot inside the theater. Next we stopped at Restaurantasaurus for Iaan to get some nuggets. Since he didn’t have any at Tusker and I was going to get dinner at Satu’li and didn’t want to rely on him eating a quesadilla or the other kids options there. It ended up being perfect timing as we had a hard rain shower and were able to let it pass while he ate. Next it was back to Africa again for a safari fastpass. It was another fun ride, the giraffes were eating and were very active.

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We caught another show of Festival of the Lion King and then went to Pandora for dinner. I got the beef and chicken combo bowl and loved it I had the creamy herb and the potato hash. The potatoes were ok but meh would probably go for noodles and try one of the other sauces next time. Anyway it was great, the chicken especially was surprisingly good. It was probably my second favorite meal behind Ohana I wish they would do a rice base with teriyaki sauce. I also tried the Pandora Sunrise as I was not feeling hydrated enough for anything with alcohol. Everybody seems to hate it, and I’m not a fan of PowerAde, but I really liked it and was quite refreshing after the heat all day. Along with the food had me feeling good to finish the evening.

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We went over and rode Triceratops Spin, Iaan likes the spinner rides.

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Then we headed over for Rivers of Light: We are One, we had the dining package seating from Tusker House. It was a nice show, very pretty. Not a must see for sure, but we enjoyed it. Never saw the original version to compare.

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Next post: Epcot day
 
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